Community Corner

Swampscott Family Says Thank You For Syrian Relief Help

The items will help Syrian refugees in Turkey.

 

Recently our family was collecting some items to be sent to the Syrian refugees in Turkey.  We want to thank all of those in the community who donated goods and money and rallied around those suffering. We also want to thank the Syrian American Alliance for donating ½ of the money to ship these items down to VA and Toni’s Own cookies in Peabody, MA, who helped us pack and ship the items. 

We are thankful to so many people, the Swampscott Middle School, Stanley School, Big Blue Bargains and the First Church community. We were also particularly touched by a neighbor of ours, Leighsa Anderson and her children Cameron, Reese, and Conlan, who created 6 beautiful blanket rolls, wonderfully decorated with a caring note attached.  This touched us deeply.  We are very grateful and humbled by everyone’s support.  Our shipment arrived in VA; we had one pallet full of 460 pounds of goods.  These have been consolidated with other donations and currently the Turkish Embassy is deciding whether to send it by air instead of by sea to the refugee camps in Turkey that houses 20,000 displaced Syrians.

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It is our wish to create awareness of the suffering of the Syrian people under the hands of brutal dictator Bashar Assad.  It is a truly heartbreaking situation as over 40,000 people have died and there are said to be over 2 million internal refugees as well as those in refugee camps in border countries.  It is hard for us to imagine this kind of brutality and in fact most Americans probably don’t really know what is going on in Syria.  The bottom line is this; Syrians are seeking Democracy for the future of their country!  We wish them success in this noble desire.  We thank Terry Date with the Swampcott Patch and Amber Parcher with the Daily Item for continuing to help us bring awareness to our communities of the Syrian situation.

Next Saturday, November 17th there is a Global Walk for the children of Syria happening in Boston.  The event is sponsored by the Syrian American Alliance.  My daughter, Cenna Khatib an 8th grader at Swampscott Middle School, plans to give a speech at the rally before the walk.  The rally is at 1PM and the walk will start at 3:30PM.  We would love for members of our own community to come down and support this cause.  Please take a moment to learn more about this event as well as what is going on in Syria http://walk4childrenofsyria.org/.  The Syrian American Alliance (http://www.syrianaa.org/) also has more information as well as t-shirts for sale for the walk.

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There is a Syrian refugee family here in MA that arrived in September.  Their daughter is very ill with a rare sickness.  They have an incredible story.  Please read about it here: http://mysyriatowardsfreedom.blogspot.com.  This is a blog made my friend made to chronicle the events happening in Syria as well as locally.

We continue to take monetary donations for Humanitarian Aid directly in Syria helping children and those in need and for this family here in MA.  

Thank you again for your generosity.  Please feel free to email me if you have any questions or would like to make a donation, at khatibs23@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

Keli Khatib


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